"Indeed," Zhongli replied with a nod, answering Childe's question before calmly lifting his teacup again. His manner made it fairly clear he had no particular intention of elaborating.
"Oh? Would you mind sharing a little of that with me?"
He could tell Zhongli wasn't keen to go into detail, but Childe asked anyway, shameless as ever.
The way he figured it: if he got an answer, great — pure profit. If not, no harm done. Either way it cost him nothing but a little pride, and that was a bargain by any measure.
While Childe was busy thinking this, Kaito standing nearby found himself genuinely puzzled by what Zhongli was doing.
As far as he was concerned, he was obviously going to bring up the matter of Mobius for Childe's benefit.
After all, he'd already laid the groundwork back at the Guili Plains — it would be a waste not to follow through now.
Wait...
Is Zhongli trying to get me to be the one to say it?
That thought struck him, and Kaito opened his mouth: "It's actually about someone I know who's come to Liyue. I'm worried she might cause some trouble, so I've been discussing with Mister Zhongli how best to handle it."
Childe: !
Someone Kaito knows? Could it be that girl called Mobius?
The moment Kaito said that, Childe's mind went straight to the girl he'd just run into.
He couldn't be certain yet, though — and he wasn't about to say anything. Not now, at least.
It was fairly obvious that the girl might be someone the Fatui could work with.
So for now, he'd act as if that encounter had never happened.
"Oh? And why would this person you know go and cause trouble?" After a moment's thought, Childe put on his best look of total ignorance and asked in the most guileless tone he could manage. "She won't even give you a little face?"
Whatever the case, best to gather more information first.
"Face? I doubt she'd give me any," Kaito replied, his expression the picture of resigned exasperation. "She probably thinks I'm always trying to avoid her."
Knowing that Childe had taken the bait, Kaito played his part accordingly.
By now, he figured Childe had already connected the dots to Mobius.
If that was the case, all that remained was to see whether Childe would entertain the idea of working with her.
At this point in the story, Childe was bound to still have his eye on the Gnosis.
"The way I hear it, that sounds an awful lot like love curdling into hate," Childe said with a small laugh. "Your luck with the ladies really never runs dry, does it, Kaito."
By now he had a pretty solid hunch — all that was left was confirming it.
"I wouldn't call it luck with the ladies. More like rotten luck in general," Kaito answered flatly, keeping his expression fixed in that same long-suffering look.
But just as he did, he caught a glimpse of Miko's face beside him — and it didn't look particularly friendly.
Not aimed at Childe, of course. Aimed squarely at him.
He didn't even need to ask — he could already guess why.
Strange... Why does Miko seem so displeased about the Mobius situation... She didn't react like this when it came to Kiana and the others, did she?
Could it be because, on the surface at least, Kiana and the others had officially become his girlfriends earlier than Miko had?
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, he couldn't land on a satisfying answer — and it certainly wasn't the kind of thing he could just ask about here.
"So this friend of yours — has she actually arrived in Liyue already?" Childe pressed, asking again. "Is she planning to make a move on you or something?"
"Not entirely sure yet," Kaito said, shaking his head. "Mainly it's that she's dangerous. I'm worried she might do something harmful while she's here in Liyue."
Since Childe was drawing it out question by question, Kaito answered in kind — a little at a time.
He'd answer exactly what was asked and nothing more. He wasn't about to rush ahead and volunteer extra information about Mobius just to keep Childe hooked.
Doing that might raise suspicions — in Childe, and in Zhongli sitting right beside them.
"Dangerous? How so?"
Looking genuinely interested, Childe pressed on with his questions about Kaito's so-called friend.
He was already fairly confident the girl he'd just encountered was the very person Kaito was describing — but he remained cautious, giving no sign that he'd already seen her, and certainly not volunteering anything.
"It's that she's always running experiments," Kaito continued, feeding Childe exactly the kind of detail he knew would hold his attention. "On other people, on herself — all kinds of strange research. Sometimes she does it on monsters too. And when she does... those monsters become genuinely terrifying."
Research on monsters?
So that Hilichurl from earlier — was that what it was for?
I see... I wonder what that Hilichurl is going to turn into...
He had to admit — right now, Childe genuinely wanted nothing more than to run into that girl called Mobius again, as soon as possible.
[Author: \inserts chibi Childe reaction image\]
____
👻🔥P- Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Re:Zero: Wrath Route Yandere Emilia Watches the Projection
✅ Read 40 chapters ahead on all series.
✅ Get exclusive content and updates.
Help us hit our targets:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all